Experimental Study of Oil Displacement by the
Bio-enzyme at the Third Type Reservoirs of Sabei
Blocks
WANG Wu1, 2
1 2
School of Energy Resources
China University of Geosciences
Beijing, China, 100083
Abstract—Sabei blocks are currently in the development stage
with ultra-high water-cut. The remaining oil distributes
scatteredly and quite a part scattered in the third type reservoirs
where exists some problems such as poor producing capacity and
water injection capacity, low productivity, fast rising rate of
water-cut, and so on. The Bio-enzyme is a kind of chemical agent
produced by microbial technology. It has the high capability of
releasing hydrocarbon from the surface of reservoir rock
particles, and can change the wettability of reservoir rocks and
reduce the interfacial tension, thereby to reduce the flow
resistance of oil in the reservoir pores and release the crude oil
from the surface of the rock particles. The lab experiments in
cores by bio-enzyme solution show that this agent can increase
the recovery rate by 5.0% and reduce the injection pressure by
40%. The field test results showed that the bio-enzyme can
improve the physical properties of underground oil, decrease the
injection pressure of water wells, increase the injection volume,
improve the injection profile and establish a good injection-
production drive system. The oil well production increased
significantly and the composite declining rate slows down at the
same time.
Keywords-bio-enzyme; wettability; interfacial tension; recovery
I. INTRODUCTION
Sabei blocks are currently in the development stage with
ultra-high water-cut. The remaining oil distributes quite
scatteredly after long-term development by water flooding. A
large scale distributes in the third type reservoir blocks, so it is
necessary to explore this part of latent capacity by the tertiary
well pattern thickening. However, the tertiary infilling wells
which were perforated at the low permeable layers like the thin,
poor oil layers or the noncommercial layers showed poor
reservoir producing capacity, poor water injection capacity,
low productivity, fast water rising rate and so on. The effect of
conventional measures is not ideal for such wells. Now it is a
technique cruxes that the Sabei development blocks face to
improve the effect of the tertiary infilling wells and to increase
the crude oil recovery rate of the third kind reservoir. Bio-
enzyme is a new form of chemical agent invented combining
with oil field development practice[1].
Enzyme is a new form of high efficient catalysts that can
remove the hydrocarbon from the surface of the solid particles.
This unplugging process is a kind of catalytic biochemistry
978-1-4244-4813-5/10/$25.00 ©2010 IEEE
Planning Department of CNPC
Beijing, China, 100007
qinshenggao@163.com
reaction. Enzymes are initially used in the mud or the oiliness
waste treatment, the oil-water separation and recycle, the
clearance of environmental pollutants and so on. In the
development process of oil and gas field, the enzyme has been
used successfully in breaking fracturing fluid gel and cleaning
the drilling fluid filter cake. Enzymes can form some chemical
agents near wellbores of the oil/gas wells or inside the
formations to increase production and the injection, to control
water (water shutoff, profile modification) and sand[2-3].
Recently, the technology of using other chemical agents
produced on the spot (such as inorganic, jelly glue, resin and so
on) is under research. Because of the good performance as the
excellent capacity of separating oil/gas/solid and the specificity
of hydrocarbon degradation, enzymes have been used
successfully to unplug the oil wells and have got good effects
of relieving the organic blockage and stabilizing formations.
The tests in the countries and districts such as the U.S.A,
Mexico, Venezuela, Indonesia, etc. have got excellent effects[4-
5]
.
The bio-enzyme is a kind of biological agents created by
microbial technology. It is a kind of water-soluble product and
has high capability of releasing the hydrocarbon from the
surface of reservoir rock particles. It can change the wettability
of the reservoir rock from lipophilicity to hydrophilcity, can
decrease the wetting angle, so as to decrease the flow resistance
of crude oil in the pores of reservoir, to release the crude oil
from the surface of rock particles and from the micropores,
then to get the effect of unplugging, oil displacement and
enhancing the recovery rate.
II. BASIC PERFORMANCE OF THE BIO-ENZYMEE
A. Capability of Washing Crude Oil
Mix samples of the quartz sands with crude oil from DQ
Oilfield fully, and then put the mixture into several bottles
containing different concentrations of this bio-enzyme solution.
The observed results showed that after interaction between the
bio-enzyme solution and oil sand the crude oil was separated
from the surface of quartz sands in the forms of oil droplets or
upfloated bulks. After separation the surface of sand particles
became clean and the interface of oil-water became regular. All
the results illustrate the excellent performance of the bio-
enzyme to wash oil.
B. Interfacial Tension
By the Interfacial Tensiometer, the interfacial tensions were
measured for field oil samples with different concentrations
and salinity at different time. The test results showed that the
interfacial tension was the smallest under the concentration of
0.5%. And under this concentration the interfacial tension was
steady and never rebounded with time(see in table 1 and table
2). The higher the salinity, the lower the interfacial tension(see
in table 3).
C. Change of the Rock wettability by Bio-enzyme
Cut the quartz into the test chips with length of 3cm, width
of 1.5cm, thickness of 0.5cm and polish them with
metallographic abrasive papers. Because the primary
component of the sandstone was quartz, the quartz can be used
instead of sandstone. It is a little water wettability originally.
Put the test chip into the diluted crude oil for immersion at
normal temperature. Then take them out and put it into a
container with clean kerosene horizontally. Put a small droplet
of water on the test chip and measure the contact angle of bio-
enzyme by the optics projection method.
In the process of interaction between the quartz test chip
and the bio-enzyme solution, the water droplet was becoming
less height and longer, while the contact angle decreases
gradually(Table 4). The results showed that the hydrophilcity
of the test chip became stronger and the lipophilicity of the test
chip became weaker. After the interaction, the enzyme
molecules attached to the surface of quartz test chip and the
wettability of the surface of quartz test chip can be changed in
short time.
D. Experiments of Oil Displacement by the Bio-enzyme
The core oil-displacement experiments showed that the
recovery rate of water flooding increased by 5.0% after
injection of bio-enzyme solution by 0.5PV for different
concentrations(see in table 5). Comparing the injection
pressure between the steady water flooding about 0.754MPa
and the following number about 0.429MPa, the injection
pressures have been reduced by 43.1％(Figure 1).
III. EFFECT OF THE FIELD TEST
A. Introduction of the Testing Area
The field test was performed at the thin reservoir of the
group GAOⅠof some tertiary infilling adjustment wells. The
average thickness of the sandstone perforated at each well is
13.2m and the effective thickness perforated is 4.1m with the
average permeability is 0.111μm2 。The average daily liquid
production is 12.0t while the daily oil production is 2.1t with
the composite water-cut of 82.4%. The pilot well group has
some features, the first of which is the low initial water-cut, the
fast rising speed of water-cut at the later stage. These features
stand for the major puzzles of the tertiary infilling well pattern.
At the early stage the daily oil production of the central oil well
was 4t with the water-cut of 55.6％. Recently the daily oil
production is 2t with the water-cut of 82.6％ which is higher
than the water-cut of the tertiary infilling wells of the entire
block by 6.5%. The yearly water-cut increases by 13.5%. The
second one is the low oil production of unit effective thickness,
and the cumulative value is 417t/m, 13.1％ lower than the
value of the entire block. So the pilot well group has a certain
oil potential. The third is the high pressure level. Aiming at
such problems the pilot well group is suitable for verifying the
adaptability of bio-enzyme flooding in the tertiary infilling
wells at Sabei systematically.
B. Implementation of the Testing Programs
In December 2007, with the original working system of the
water injection wells, the bio-enzyme was flooded by the
continuous injection method. Firstly, 0.03PV of water was
injected; then 0.5PV of the bio-enzyme solution was injected
subsurface to displace oil with the concentration of 0.8%.Till
the February 2008, the all the injection work has been finished.
The cumulative injection of the bio-enzyme was 120.4t.
C. Evaluation of the Field Test
1.Improvement of the injection effect at water wells
After the injection of bio-enzyme, Water could be injected
in 2 water wells that had never absorbed water originally; the
injection pressure of 4 injection wells decreased at the same
time; the injection volume increased; and the injection profile
has become better somewhat. The results show that a favorable
injection-production driven system has been established. The
average injection pressure of individual injection well
decreased from 12.8MPa to 12.1MPa after injection of the bio-
enzyme and the average injection volume of individual well
increased by 16m3. The average scale of water absorbing
capacity for every injection well increased by 14.18 from
19.15% to 33.33%. Good effect has been achieved.
2.Obvious Increment of Oil Production
The average daily oil production of individual oil well
increased from 2.1t to the peak value of 3.6t while the water-
cut decreased by 0.8 percent. The daily oil production of the
central wells increased by 1.0t at the best stage while the water-
cut decreased by 6.1. The cumulative oil increment by now
achieved 2796t.
3.Improvement of Pressure Level
The average flow pressure is 3.7MPa originally while it
became 4.7MPa after the field test. It can be seen from the well
testing data of central oil well N-2-351-30 that the reservoir
pressure resumed from 8.04MPa to 10.92MPa, which means
the recovery of the formation pressure. The flow coefficient
increased from 0.015µm2•m/mPa•s to 0.078µm2•m/mPa•s.
4.The Composite declining rate slows down
Before the bio-enzyme flooding test, the average monthly
composite decline of the 8 oil wells in the testing block is 1.75t.
Then this value became 1.2t after the bio-enzyme flooding. So
the composite declining rate slowed down by 2.23%.
5.Improvement of the Physical Properties of the Crude Oil
As can be seen from complete analysis with the oil samples
underground, the bio-enzyme flooding test improved the
physical properties of crude oil that the viscosity, the paraffin
content and the gel content all decreased somewhat(see in wells increases obviously and the composite declining rate
table6). slows down at the same time.

IV. CONCLUSION REFERENCES

(1) The Bio-enzyme is a kind of biological agents produced
by microbial technique with high ability of releasing [1] Chen Pingzhong, Wang Yuan. The application study of bio-enzyme as
hydrocarbon from the surface of the reservoir rock particles. It heavy crude oil water block remover[J]. petroligenic natural
gas(Jianghan Petroleum Institute). 2008, 30(6): 324-327.
can change the wettability of reservoir rocks and reduce
[2] Fen Qingxian, Wang Juanjuan, Liu Min, etc. The precursor test of
interfacial tension, thereby to unplug pores and enhance the oil modification bio-enzyme flooding [J]. Block field. 2008, 15(4): 83-86.
recovery.
[3] Xie Diahe, Jiang Hongling, Fan Shihua. The application of bio-enzyme
(2) The core oil-displacement experiments show that the technique in shanshan Oilfield[J]. Xingjiang petroligenic natural gas.
2007, 3(4) : 44-47.
bio-enzyme solution can enhance the recovery rate by 5.0%
[4] Zhou Qingteng, Wang Xiyou. The research and application of bio-
and made a decline of the injection pressure by 43.1％. enzyme broken down technique[J]. Tuha gas and oil. 2007, 12(4): 370-
371.
(3) The field test shows that the Bio-enzyme solution can
improve the physical properties of the crude oil underground, [5] Su Chonghua. The research and application of bio-enzyme broken dow
to stimulation[J]. The technology of petroleum drilling and production.
make the injection pressure of water wells decline, increase the 2008, 30(5) : 96-100.
injection volume, improve the injection profile and establish
good injection-production driven system. The production of oil
Table 1 Relationship between IFT and the concentration of bio-enzyme solutions
Concentration of Bio-enzyme/% 0.2 0.5 2.0 6.0 10.0
IFT/(10-1mN/m) 4.88 2.01 2.52 7.15 9.50
Table 2 The relationship between the IFT and time
Time /min 20 40 60 80 100 120 140
-1
IFT/ (10 mN/m) 2.34 2.50 2.28 2.63 2.52 2.40 2.83
Talbe 3 Relationship between the IFT and salinity (Bio-enzyme: 2%)
Salinity/ (mg/L) 200 800 2000 5000 8000
IFT /(mN/m) 1.28 1.14 0.55 0.47 0.39

Table 4 Changes of the contact angle

contact angle/°
Time(min)
Quartz test chip Limestone test chip
0 94.35 133.64
5 8.89 132.49
300 2.62 124.77
1800 0 115.76
Table5 Results of core oil-displacement experiments at lab by Bio-enzyme flooding
Gas Concentration Recovery rate Recovery of Total
Cores permeability of bio-enzyme of water Bio-enzyme recovery rate
/(10-3μm2) /% Flooding/% /% /%
Artificial D-4 53.7 2 48.5 4.5 53
Artificial D-5 53.7 5 49 4.4 53.4
Artificial 2 98 8 55.9 5.8 61.7
Natural 2 73 2 34.8 3.8 38.6
Natural 5 33.8 2 44.1 5.3 49.4
Natural 6 6.3 2 24.3 6.8 31.1
Nonhomogeneity 3 49.1 2 48.9 6.1 55
Average 5.2
 Table 6 The complete anlysis data sheet of oil sample
Before Bio-enzyme flooding After Bio-enzyme flooding Difference
Freezing content content Freezing Content content Freezing content content
Well ID Density Viscosity density Viscosity density Viscosity
Point of wax of gel point of wax of gel point of wax of gel
(k g/m3) (mPa·S) (k g/m3) (mPa·S) (k g/m3) (mPa·S)
(℃) (%) (%) (℃) (%) (%) (℃) (%) (%)
B2-350-29 869.7 79.54 32 31.6 13.32 901 30.41 33 23.4 13.6 31.3 -49.13 1 -8.2 0.28
B2-351-30 892.9 41.91 30 23.2 14.62 872.7 30.56 32 15.6 18 -20.2 -11.35 2 -7.6 3.38
B2-351-32 867.2 28.11 30 27.3 15.68 868.2 25.06 31 17 20 1 -3.05 1 -10.3 4.32
B2-360-30 882.7 29.47 30 27.18 12.85 864.9 26.14 31 24 24 -17.8 -3.33 1 -3.18 11.15
B2-360-32 881.4 32.55 33 25.52 16.45 892.8 22.25 34 20 16.4 11.4 -10.3 1 -5.52 -0.05
B2-361-31 871.9 29.35 31 29.45 12.1 868.8 28.83 33 25.4 22.2 -3.1 -0.52 2 -4.05 10.1

1.2

1.0
Water
Pressure(MPa)

0.8
Bio-enzyme Post
0.6

0.4

0.2
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0
PV

Fig.1 The pressure history of bio-enzyme flooding